I am often asked by family members how the Official Solicitor and the court can make decisions about P without knowing them. More often than not, this is followed by comments about how they know P best so they should be able to make all of P’s decisions. That follow up is problematic, for aContinue reading “Wishes and feelings statements: getting to know P”
Tag Archives: witness statements
Reflections on language use: “deemed to have capacity”
This is probably me just being a little pedantic. But I have an issue with being told people are “deemed” to have capacity. Even more so they are “deemed” to lack capacity I think it’s mainly due to the lack of precision in the term “deem”. The dictionary definition of “deem” is “to have anContinue reading “Reflections on language use: “deemed to have capacity””
I don’t think you really thought this through. Proceedings so ill-conceived it’s painful
I am prone to overthinking, so I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about what other parties to any particular case might be thinking and planning, identifying what advice I might give them, and strategizing accordingly. But this case really has me stumped. So today’s post is based on a current case ofContinue reading “I don’t think you really thought this through. Proceedings so ill-conceived it’s painful”
Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 2
In my last post, I gave an example of S and T. S is the subject of Court of Protection proceedings and T, her mother, does not agree with the decisions being made by professionals and wants S to move to a different placement. In that scenario, T’s behaviour gave the judge little option butContinue reading “Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 2”
Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 1
Despite the great work being done to improve transparency within the court of protection it is still largely misunderstood. Where this lack of understanding comes to the forefront, in my line of work anyway, is when P’s family members are parties to proceedings. For a variety of reasons, mainly due to the poor state ofContinue reading “Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 1”
Discussing care plans within court proceedings: part 1 – the broad brush
I am surprised by how often with my job I find myself in a situation where everyone round the table has a different idea of what the court’s role is when discussing care planning. I am talking predominantly about cases where there is some kind of dispute about a care plan, for example, where thereContinue reading “Discussing care plans within court proceedings: part 1 – the broad brush”
About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings part 3
This is the third post in a series about changing your mind during Court of Protection proceedings. If you’ve not read parts 1 and 2, feel free to do so. But I’ll briefly recap the scenario too. Essentially, my client was in a care home, suffering from dementia and objecting to her residence there. HerContinue reading “About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings part 3”
About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings – part 2
In this series of posts, I’m exploring how to approach a situation if, during Court of Protection proceedings, the professionals views about what I’d viable or what is in P’s best interests. It happens sometimes, and it’s inconvenient and difficult to navigate. But not impossible to achieve. I’m using an example from my recent casesContinue reading “About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings – part 2”
An urgent move during Court of Protection proceedings: a how (not) to guide
It is inevitable that sometimes in Court of Protection proceedings, there will be times when a move needs to take place urgently. There are any number of reasons why this might happen: arrangements in the community breakdown, safeguarding issues happen, risks increase and sometimes, a really good placement comes up which will be lost toContinue reading “An urgent move during Court of Protection proceedings: a how (not) to guide”
How the court decides best interests: what that looks like in practice
This is a follow up to my series of posts about best interests decision-making in the Court of Protection. In those posts I broke down the process in stages, to demonstrate the issues the court explores. But this blog is ultimately about law in practice so I wanted to provide you with a bit moreContinue reading “How the court decides best interests: what that looks like in practice”